The connection to the Saddique family seems to have been lost along the way, they were the masters behind the call centres set up to attract UK Visa applicants and get them to part with their money.

Mr Rehman of Kings Court Chambers – a notice from the Legal Ombudsman

Details of ombudsman decisions against a Birmingham based barrister have been published in the public interest for the first time.

In the past twelve months, there have been 14 Ombudsman decisions against Mr Rehman and this follows on from 11 in the previous year. The total awards in these cases amount to £8087. Poor service has been found in the all of the cases where an Ombudsman has made a final decision and it is also relevant that the nature of the complaints is thematically similar: delay, poor costs information, poor advice and poor complaint handling. These appear to point to a systemic failure.

In view of the continuing number of complaints against Mr Rehman, the OLC Board considers that the likelihood of repetition remains high and that there is a now a public interest reason for making public our concerns.

Consumers should also be aware that Kings Court Chambers is also called KC Chambers, and we understand is in the process of changing its name to Hilton Chambers.

If you have already made a complaint about Mr Tariq Rehman, or any other barrister at Kings Court Chambers, we will continue to investigate the case as usual.

We are in contact with the Bar Standards Board (the regulatory body for barristers) who are working with Mr Rehman and the chambers to resolve the situation.

When this story began there were 5 or more barristers registered at Kings Court Chambers, now there are two. I hope the reduction in numbers is due to the pressure that blogs like this continue to apply. The original scam was a combination of UK Immigration Barristers and Kings Court Chambers. UK Immigration Barristers has now disappeared from the internet thankfully, but read on……

This blog was written more than 2 years ago, with more than 14,000 hits and rising, it looks like these crooks are still operating, but hopefully for not much longer. Following a Press Release about Tariq Rehman by the Legal Ombudsman this should finally put an end to this story.

Read some of the background history and I hope you have found this blog before departing with any cash to these criminals.

Read the reviews before you pick up the phone!

UK Immigration Barristers 2014 are NOT barristers but are known to use Kings Court Chambers, a barristers chambers in Birmingham, UK. Take a look at at the website of the Legal Ombudsman:

Click on ‘Immigration’ and it reveals quite a telling picture of upheld complaints against all of the existing barristers at Kings Court Chambers in 2013-2014.

Tariq Rehman, Mohammed Asif Khan (who has now left the chambers) and Nigel Duncan Andrew Wray.

With a total of eight complaints, Tariq Rehman has more than twice as many complaints against his name than any of the other 15,500 barristers in England & Wales. He has also been found guilty at two tribunals and is due to stand before a further two tribunals in September 2012.

Check out Hilton Chambers, Direct Access Barristers Chambers 0844 307 9111 and ask for Tariq Rehman. Check out their terms and conditions and their privacy policy. Check out the address too, CIBA, Second Floor (Suite 203), 146-150 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B19 9NX which is exactly the same as Kings Court Chambers!

This comment received, 11 June 2014, needs to be highlighted within this blog:“Have report these crooks to the police, today police has told me this month there has been 14 people doing the same…I was put onto kings court camblers Mr Nigel Wray from that that has done nothing apart from stealing my money !!!!!!!.. Now has the Ombudsman taken up the case , of which they are dealing with many cases of kings court chambers , but can not stop them trading as its down to the Bar Council of which is well aware of them ,but apart from small fines allows them to continue in there stealing and scams” The same person posted an update on 17 June 2014: “Ombudsman on my case ,Kings court promise to refund me months ago never happened !!..They have informed the Ombudsman reason why as they have had problems with there bank.. Now have a new deadline to pay agreeing it with the Ombudsman, chances of that slim to non, again they even informed the Ombudsman its all there banks fault and still having problems with there bank, funny enough no problems when taking moneys !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Knows this will go all the way to a court , and talking to the barcouncil was imformed Mr Nigel Wray was suspended for a month in 2012 for stealing another persons money, also am informed they are taking action against Kings Court Chambers, but could not tell what it is at the mo until its all been final and will be posted up on the barcouncil website… As for Uk Immigration Barristers theres no action the Barcouncil can take as its not a law company, but are aware its a scam !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The first comments received from these scammers on Twitter (posting as AnonsExp) 22/04/2014 (bearing in mind that this blog was set up in September 2012) directed at certain individuals that the scammers think are responsible for the mass of bad publicity which has been broadcast over the internet. UPDATE: The Twitter account in the name of AnonsExp has been suspended as it was participating in abusive behaviour.

exceltelemarketing.co.uk had links to ASAD SADDIQUE, indeed,the family name Saddique has strong ties with a number of Visa and Immigration firms past and present.

Following a campaign by those of us who suffered emotional stress and financial loss at the hands of these crooks, UK Visa and Immigration/UK Immigration Barristers/Global Immigration Solutions Ltd/Excel Telemarketing Ltd has recently had a change of ownership, but you have to be quick to keep up!

(615 companies also use this postcode, this is probably a mail forwarding service address)

A comment taken from BETTERTHANIMDBblog about UK Immigration Barristers:

“Re ongoing court case received a copy of the letter from Handelsbanken with regard to (Global immigration consultants ) trading as UK immigrationbarristers stating the account that I paid in to was closed on 16th January 2014 I have to attend the small claims court on 20th June 2014 but think I have run out of options as they have obviously moved accounts I feel so let down at the legal process my claim is now in the 9th month with no result these thief s seem one step ahead all the time and have no regard to legal judgement notices. I have given it my best shot and just hope no one has been as stupid as I have been.”

The website http://www.ukimmigrationbarristers.com/ has only partially been updated and I will not point out the obvious errors that have been made when making the recent changes (March 2014). The small print in “Terms of Business” should be read very carefully.

Frequently asked questions:

Are you Immigration Barristers? No,

UK Immigration Barristers is an intermediary agent. We work with a network of Barristers that we instruct on your behalf.

Then WHY the misleading name?

KINGS COURT CHAMBERS

TARIQ REHMAN (Joint head of Chambers)

Tariq Rehman, a practising barrister, appeared before a Disciplinary Tribunal of the Inns of Court to face three charges of professional misconduct.Mr Rehman appeared before a second Disciplinary Tribunal to face a single charge of professional misconduct in relation to his failure to pay a judgment obtained against him.

Tariq Rehman

Called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn, March 2000 Charged with: Three charges of professional misconduct under paragraph 406.1 of the Code of Conduct of the Bar of England and Wales (8th Edition) – Failing to pay fees received for work done by another barrister, to that other barrister, promptly.

My story begins back in 2011 and a company calledUK Visa and Immigration, the trading name of UK Visa Specialists Ltd. Following the demise of this company, business had already transferred to Global Immigration Consultants Ltd trading as UK Immigration Barristers (UKIB) . In all probability they are/were using other names as well. One more name to add to the list is Kings Court Chambers (KCC)where Visa applications are supposedly referred by UK Immigration Barristers. To muddy the water a little further, another name has cropped up on UKIB website, UK Immigration Solicitors.If you think you have been scammed by any of the above named companies or indeed a company that you think may be linked to these cheats, please write a comment below. Some recent complaints about King Court Chambers run by Tariq Rehman and his ever dwindling team Mohammed Asif Khan, Nigel Wray ( several barristers have already disassociated themselves from these Chambers).

We were scammed by UK Visa and Immigration in October 2011. Having received the smooth sales patter, we parted with £900 on the promise of help with a spouse visa application. Once the money had been paid over, all communication from UKVI stopped. But, we were persistent, and made daily communication with them until at last a contract was emailed to us (albeit in the wrong name). We refused to electronically sign the contract until it had the correct name on it, we requested a receipted invoice for our payment of £900. The contract duly received in the correct name, the receipted invoice in a different name, we still refused to sign a contract until the receipted invoice was corrected. Exhausting! Moving swiftly on, all communication ceased once more, but we were on the case. To cut a long story short, we completed a draft copy of the visa application ourselves, only for someone at UKVI to key it into the UKBA computer system, including several mistakes which we had to correct. We received a shoddy copy of what looked like a crib sheet from UKBA of all the supporting documents we needed to collect which we did and duly submitted to them. At this point, we were wondering why we had paid £900 for a service which we were clearly not getting, so we sent in a complaint. The complaint was not answered, so another complaint was sent, again unanswered. We wrote reviews of our experience with UK Visa and Immigration on various websites, we tweeted warnings to others not to use this “service”. Lo and behold, we hit a raw nerve, because we triggered a response from the PR and Marketing Manager and there the smooth patter began again. The end result of conversations with this manager was an immediate refund of £900 and a request that all our negative reviews were removed from the various sites. The purpose of this blog is to warn others seeking help with a UK Visa application to check the background of any company they are thinking of using, check review sites, visit company premises, do not part with any money until you have received and thoroughly read a contract which you are happy to sign. Do not forget, UKBA information and advice is FREE. UK Visa Specialists Ltd trading as UK Visa and Immigration is no longer OISC accredited and is now operating under the name Global Immigration Consultants Ltd trading as UK Immigration Barristers . In all probability they are using other names as well. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/60205/notices/425/In the Matter of UK VISA SPECIALISTS LIMITED (Company Number 07221022) A Petition to wind up the above-named Company, Registration Number 07221022, of Newland House 4th Floor, 137-139 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B16 8UApresented on 31 May 2012 by the Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs, of Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4RD, claiming to be Creditors of the Company, will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice, 7 Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1NL, on23 July 2012, at 1030 hours (or as soon thereafter as the Petition can be heard). The Bar Council has recently published detailed guidance for barristers explaining that any instructions accepted on the basis of a referral arrangement with an introduction agency will breach the Bar Code of Conduct. UKIB is an unregulated referral agency. Therefore, any barrister(s) who receive(s) work via UKIB will probably do so in breach of the Code of Conduct. In this case, a complaint to the Professional Conduct Committee of the Bar Council against the barrister concerned would be appropriate. Research has revealed that clients who contact UKIB are only ever referred to a barrister at ‘King’s Court Chambers’. Be warned, there are unscrupulous agents out there willing to take your money and run. If you want to apply for a UK Visa, do your homework and don’t fall for scammers. Do some research, don’t lose your money or documents, there are some very sorry tales out there for the reading. Posted below is an amalgamation of reviews collected from various websites, make your own mind up as to whether to pick up that phone and hand over your credit card details: “This is the worst service you could possibly pay for I to am expriencing the same problems I paid 1000 pounds for an application to be sent to the Home Office and the case worker clearly used somebody elses application and just copy and pasted my name over somebody elses as when I requested a copy of the application it had somebody elses name as well as mine on it and had to be redone. Since sending my application I got a random email from them stating my case was being moved to another company however that never happened and when I finally manged to contact them about it I was told my case worker and his PA had left the company. I have not been able to et in contact with them now since May the number has been removed from the website and I get no replys from emails.” “If it was possible to give UK Visa and Immigration zero stars, I would. Never, ever in my life have I come across such an incompetent bunch of people, who are paid to provide ‘professional and expert help’ on matters of immigration. It is all lies and they are complete scammers who have absolutely NO IDEA how the UK Home Office/Border Agency works and certainly are no help what so ever in assisting one secure any sort of visa. The ONLY thing they were quick to do was to take my money!” “I have had to cancel my application twice already because their timelines are completely unrealistic, and the most recent time has been the worst: I have six call-back requests, two emails, and a formal letter from my solicitor asking for my documents to be returned. I have never received ANY contact from them other than a single generic email confirmation nearly 3 weeks ago. The last call I made, where I asked for a call-back before the close of the business day or I would be forced to involve a solicitor, they hung up on me”

“i was a client of this company and paid them in advance for work they will now not complete. they have had their licence revoked thru bad practice. they now trade as UK IMMIGRATION BARRISTERS”

“Under NO circumstances don’t deal with them they are fraudsters ” “My partner and i have just completed a visa application with these people and in the beginning uk visa and immigration were well enthusiastic they charged us 1200 to be passed to kings court chambers barristers who they ensured would give us great service, this is what didnt happen.” “I will be going to court, I am not going to let it go.” See Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UKVisaAdvice for more information. We would be pleased to receive your comments. This Facebook page has either been removed or blocked, presumably the truth hurts profits for these organisations. See Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/UK-Barristers-Scam This Facebook page has either been removed or blocked, are we too close to exposing more than just the companies names in this and other blogs? See Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/UK-Visa-Barristers-Scam/455625754480455

A reminder about UK Immigration Barristers

While UK Visa and Immigration was regulated before losing its licence, UK Immigration Barristers has never been regulated. It is a criminal offence to give immigration advice unless those giving advice are legally qualified or the company is regulated by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). But secret recording carried out by the BBC shows UK Immigration Barristers giving immigration advice through an unqualified advisor, to an actress who posed as a potential customer. The OISC – which regulates the industry – says it is investigating and has the power to bring prosecutions. Mr Akhtar, the director of UK Immigration Barristers, has launched an internal inquiry into the matter and says the employee concerned has been suspended.He said his firm acts as a broker between barristers and clients and does not provide any “legal advice or services to its clients”. Mr Akhtar said: “I use the services of a few call centres to handle all the calls for my company… The call centre has a strict zero policy regarding giving immigration advice.”

He doesn’t dispute the fact his company is unlicensed but says he was told there is no legal need for it to be regulated.

I am not sure where to go from here – it seems that the a number of people in the legal profession are aware of what is/has been going on but are not willing or able to do anything about it (take a look at disclaimers on legitimate solicitors or barristers websites).

It would be great if just one solicitor or barrister stuck his head above the parapet.

Please continue to add your comments (so long as they are not libellous)